Friday, April 19, 2013

Finding Sense in a World of Chaos

The Boston Marathon Bombing has been the focus of nearly everyone in this country. With three dead and one hundred and sixty wounded it is nothing short of tragic. Trying to understand bombers isn't difficult. They're cowards who either kill themselves or expect they'll never be caught because, well, it's a bomb and most of the evidence will be destroyed.

But what gets me isn't the bombers out there, it's the tragedies the news people just gloss over. The Waco fertilizer plant that exploded a couple of days ago. They still don't know the number of dead and wounded but it numbers many more than the Marathon bombing. But it was an accident, so it doesn't count. What really got me was the news article I read where they said "at least it wasn't as bad as the boat explosion in 2005 that killed 500 people". What?!? And they continued with other fertilizer explosions where more people were killed. Crass? You bet! If you're going to write something like that, well, the bombing in Boston wasn't as bad as the Towers.

Yesterday the body of a dead baby was found wrapped in a sheet at the laundry where a Minnesota hospital sends it laundry to be done. The laundry called the hospital, they came and retrieved the body. And the cops? you ask. Well, they're checking it out. The hospital has since apologized and states that it was a still born baby. But you have to wonder how can a hospital lose the body of a baby? And how can the police just gloss over it like it's an everyday occurrence because, well, it's a hospital, they're entitled to mistakes like that.

And today's news? Four adults, all in their twenties, were found dead in the basement of their apartment building. They were all shot in the head and no weapon was found. The cops' response? This building doesn't have a history of crime. Well, I'm sorry, but it does now.

As a writer of crime fiction I find that it's the small stories that tug at my heart and make me want to explore the reasons behind what happened. Bombings for the most part are political, aimed at a government that they hate. But the small everyday crimes and tragedies are personal. And if you're writing crime fiction, you're trying to understand how this can happen. What pushes people over the edge? Why didn't someone care enough?

Do I care what happened in Boston? Of course, but I also care about a plant exploding, a baby's body seriously mishandled, and four dead children, because at twenty they're still children, found in a basement. Our world is a violent place and as a writer that is what I seek to understand, to put in perspective so that others might understand also. It's all I can hope to do as a writer.

11 comments:

One of the stories that has always haunted me is the saga of the family whose wife/mother went missing on 9/11. Her story was just swallowed up in the larger tragedy and it's as if she drowned in the middle of the ocean with no one to hear her scream. I can understand how some stories get marginalized in heavy news cycles--although CNN seems to have plenty of time to cover the Jody Arias' story--but you're absolutely right. And that story about the baby. What could they possibly say, "Oops? Well, you know, babies are small; it's kind of hard to keep track of them." This feels like a day to stay inside and watch romantic comedies from the 40s.

I'm with you on small stories, Sandra. As I gorged myself on crime fiction for a couple years, there was much that burned me out, especially in a lot of the "rural noir" stuff that really wasn't anything like my experience, which was as rural as anyone. People who go around killing people without a second thought are exceedingly rare, and much of this fiction would make one think there is a handful of them in every county. Crimes happen all the time, yet death is hardly ever the end result. So I find it much more interesting to see a story where the killing seems like a last resort, and inflicts as much horror on the killer as anyone. Because that is a hell of a lot more real. Then it becomes not about the blood and gore, but what could possibly drive someone to that point.

I'm with you, Katherine. The story I took from 9/11 was the couple on the plane holding their baby daughter between them as they said goodbye to their family on the phone.

I've almost given up on noir stories myself, Chris. It feels lately like everyone is trying to outdo each other with how graphic they can get. I'm finding that the stories I like best are the ones that dig deeper into the events either leading up to the crime or after the crime.

Absolutely. The media is looking for stories that are visual. A manhunt in Boston is visual. I think the coverage of this has been awful. Just going over and over the same speculations again. Already the victims are forgotten as they pan those city streets.

I noted too, how many more folks were hurt and killed in Texas, but I think we all understand accidental tragedies better than human produced tragedies. yet, the Texas explosion is probably not just an accident either. not deliberately done, but a pattern of neglect and poor choices led to it. In a way, it is also man made.

Yes, Charles, and the report I read yesterday said that the owner had been sited but he just bought another permit and went on with business as usual. I don't understand owners that put profit ahead of safety. But it has always been so.

You hit the nail on the head. These same things get under my skin, and I think what you've observed, but haven't put a name to, is human negligence/neglect (which Mr. Gramlich mentioned in his comment, though I think he meant it in a different context.) This tendency for crimes deemed of a "lesser value" to just fall between the cracks in our news media -- and sadly, most people don't seem concerned. The best I've been able to do is stop watching television entirely. Humanity's pain should not be calculated by ratings and advertising dollars. :C

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About Me

So, who am I? First off, I'm a short story writer and proud of that. I've had stories short-listed for both Derringer and Spinetingler Awards. Even this blog has been nominated twice for a Spinetingler Award in the service to the community category. My short story, "Survival Instincts", first published in PulpPusher, was included in the best crime and mystery stories of 2010 collection, By Hook or by Crook. I've been published in many of the online zines, had stories included in print magazines like Needle and Pulp Modern, and in e-anthologies like Pulp Ink and Beat to a Pulp: Superhero. I've also had a collection of my short stories, Cold Rifts, published by Snubnose Press.
I was also the co-editor of the small print magazine, A Flasher’s Dozen and served two years as President of the Short Mystery Fiction Society.